Insight for Living Canada - LifeTrac Podcast - In the Valley of Shadows

Life track with Chuck Swindall is a presentation of insight for living Canada.

Remember the moving scene in the hiding place, her quarry has Betsy, her sister, in her arms.

And she's looking deeply in her eyes, fighting back tears.

Both of their lips are cracked.

Tongues are parched, her bodies are in pain.

They're in that Nazi death camp.

Betsy looks in among her last words says to quarry,

there is no pit so deep that he is not deeper still.

The Psalmist would say there is no valley so dark that he is not there to provide the light.

And please observe that it's just the shadow.

It's the shadow of maybe life and death fears.

Charles Spurgeon writes, it's not the valley of death but the valley of the shadow of death.

For death in its substance has been removed only the shadow of it remains.

Where there is a shadow there must be a light somewhere.

And so there is, death stands by the side of the highway on which we have to travel.

And the light of heaven shining upon us throws a shadow across our path.

Let us then rejoice that there is a light beyond.

Nobody is afraid of a shadow.

For a shadow cannot stop one in his pathway even for a moment.

The shadow of a dog cannot bite.

The shadow of a sword cannot kill.

And the shadow of death cannot destroy us.

Let us not therefore be afraid.

But we are, aren't we?

Had a grown man tell me recently as we talked of his fears, he said,

tell you the truth, I'm still afraid of the dark.

And I thought, there's a kindred soul.

I am too. I just tell all of you.

I don't like it when it's dark.

When Cynthia's gone and I'm home alone, I turn most of the lights on.

I sleep with the lights on.

Because when it's dark, I hear things that aren't there.

And I see things that really aren't real.

And my mind plays tricks on me.

The worst part of my day is when the sun goes down.

And I'm alone.

And I'm away from home.

And the sky gets dark.

I read that the shepherd is there and I have no evil to fear.

He's with me.

But closely at the old Bedouins that walked the pathways in the Judean hillside,

you'll see a heavy club hanging from her waist, ready to be grabbed and used.

Isn't it great to know that my shepherd has the club he can use when I have to stand against an adversary that's stronger than I am?

See, there are no signs in the open field.

You never see one danger wolf,

hour away, or around the rock.

Furthermore, we wouldn't even stop to read the sign.

Because we're thinking about ourselves.

There are no signs today.

Danger, cult, knocking on your door.

Danger, a neighbor, is looking at your child.

He's a predator.

No sign like that.

So we need a shepherd.

We need one with a staff to keep us in line with the club

to go against those who would hurt us.

Because remember, we're defenseless.

Death isn't something we like to think about.

It scares us.

But the Bible tells us that, as believers, we have nothing to fear.

We have a shepherd, Jesus Christ,

who will walk with us through the valley of the shadow of death when the time comes.

Listen to more of Chuck Swindall's LifeTrack messages at LifeTrack.ca.

That's L-I-F-E-T-R-A-C.

LifeTrack, where life and truth meet.

The preceding LifeTrack presentation was brought to you by Insight for Living Canada.

The original message, God's Comfort, in Psalm 23, was copyrighted in 2005.

And the LifeTrack sound recording was copyrighted in 2012 by Charles R. Swindall Incorporated.

All rights are reserved worldwide.